Meet the new competitor for an Internet of Things standard

As device makers crank out a growing number of gadgets that can connect to the internet (and to one another), it’s starting to look like we need a standard for how your thermostat, light bulbs, refrigerator, and other things should talk to one another.

Some major industry players including Qualcomm, LG, Microsoft, and Sharp have already banded together to form the AllSeen Alliance. But not there’s new competition from a second group, called the Open Interconnect Consortium.

It also has the backing of some big companies including Intel, Samsung, Broadcom, and Dell.

The goal of each project is to help ensure that all of your connected devices are able to talk to one another as efficiently and effectively as possible.

Right now it’s already possible to set your home alarm, adjust your thermostat, or dim the lights in your home using a smartphone or tablet , as long as you’re devices are internet connected and you’ve got the right apps on your mobile device.

But in the future if there are widespread standards it could be easier to do those things and many more without worrying about whether your light switches and other devices work with Android or if they’re iOS-only.

Unfortunately now that there are two major efforts to create a standard… there’s a decent chance that in the years to come you will have to make sure your gadgets all support the same network, whether that be the one championed by the AllSeen Alliance of the new Open Interconnect Consortium’s upcoming standard.

Click to flag and open «Comment Reporting» form. You can choose reporting category and send message to website administrator. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.

“AllSeen Alliance”

Well, that’s going to send a chill up the spines of the New World Order conspiracy theorists.

“Open Interconnect Consortium” is a lot less threatening, but then I guess the conspiracy theorists will just claim that the reassuring name is just to cover up its real purpose of tracking everything we do…

Click to flag and open «Comment Reporting» form. You can choose reporting category and send message to website administrator. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.

Click to flag and open «Comment Reporting» form. You can choose reporting category and send message to website administrator. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.

Liliputing’s primary sources of revenue are advertising and affiliate links (if you click the “Shop” button at the top of the page and buy something on Amazon, for example, we’ll get a small commission).

But there are several ways you can support the site directly even if you’re using an ad blocker and hate online shopping.